I tried out the latest handheld PC and it’s the best piece of tech I’ve ever owned

IT feels like every day a life-changing piece of technology comes around that, once we buy, we can no longer live without.

That’s what we felt as soon as we put our hands on the latest portable PC and knew we couldn’t live without one again.

Valve

The new OLED screen is bigger and brighter.[/caption]

In our first few days with the upgraded Steam Deck, the Steam Deck OLED, we knew that we couldn’t live without it.

Almost every gamer has a huge Steam library, most of which they have never gotten round to playing.

With the huge 1TB memory of the Steam Deck OLED, it’s so simple to switch between even intensive modern games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Resident Evil 4.

The incredibly sharp OLED screen brings these triple-A games to life in a way that doesn’t make me miss my TV at all.

The allure of being able to play a fast Street Fighter 6 match on the toilet, or bashing your head against a difficult Lies of P boss on the train is incredibly strong.

However, the Steam Deck has been around for almost two years now, and we’ve been able to enjoy the latest games on the go for that long.

The major upgrade is of course the screen, which has gone from a decent IPS display to the better quality OLED.

It’s also about half an inch bigger than the old model, but still has a resolution of 720p.

There’s been a big debate about Deck Verified games, as not all games have been tested by Valve to earn the checkmark.

However, most Deck users ignore this mark, and it’s not surprising given how many unverified games work perfectly well on it.

One of the bigger improvements is how energy efficient the new chips are. The OLED is less noisy than its predecessor, and the console is far less likely to overheat.

A major problem does remain though, and that is with the Steam Deck’s battery life.

It is slightly better than the original model, but you will still not get more than a few hours when playing an intensive game.

Even if you have a high-end gaming PC, the portability of the new Steam Deck still makes it a must-buy, and if you don’t, it’s the cheapest way to get into PC gaming.

If you’re a PC gamer, check out the freebies you can grab on the Epic Games Store.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.